Why Your Network (Not Your CV) Gets You Hired: A Week in the Trenches

It’s been another “game of two halves” kind of week - half career coach, half family juggler, and somewhere in there, a bit of sleep. My husband’s been working wild shifts, childcare’s been a moving target, and my clients… well, they don’t stop needing me just because life gets busy.

This week’s highlight? Working with an employability organisation training some genuinely brilliant creative folks - think marketing, digital, content creators on how to get a job.

These are the people who can make a CV look like a piece of art (because sometimes, it literally is). Seven of them through my (virtual) door this week, and already a couple have landed interviews. That’s a win.

But here’s the problem : many have creative CVs, designed in Canva or InDesign, and these are basically invisible to the robots (applicant tracking systems) that scan them.

All that colour, all that flair? The ATS sees a pretty picture, not a CV. So, my job this week was gently (sometimes not-so-gently) breaking it to them that they need to strip their CVs back to black and white, more words, less wow. It goes against everything they’ve been taught in marketing school, but if you want to get past the bots, you have to play the game - even if it’s a boring one.

Networking was the real thread tying everything together. We talked a lot about how your network can get you in the door when your CV can’t. I met a businesswoman in film - completely different world from mine - and we brainstormed ways she could actually make money from her passion. Sometimes, it just takes someone outside your bubble to spot the obvious opportunities. I left that chat feeling genuinely proud I'd suggested some things to think about, because she deserves every bit of success coming her way.

Our weekly Job Search Sprint call on Tuesday brought three new faces into the mix. They’ve slotted in seamlessly, there were questions this week about salary negotiation and how to precondition an employer before the numbers talk even starts. The group shared their own stories, and it was one of those sessions where you can almost see the lightbulbs going off.

I also had some great networking calls: one with a lady from Dress to Success (an amazing charity helping women get interview-ready with donated outfits), and another with a jobseeker who’s getting interviews but not offers. She’s from overseas, super capable, but maybe a touch too direct for the UK market. Sometimes, it’s not about skills - it’s about your interview style. I hope i'll get to help her with that.

There was another call with a lady who gave me some brilliant tips for connecting some of the work I do to University Employability people, and I connected her with another client in education.

If only I looked this fabulous when I'm networking... I need a corded phone....

That’s the magic of networking - sometimes , the best thing you can do is just introduce good people to each other and let them get on with it, ask genuine questions, talk a bit about you, and the magic of that persons knowledge can be game changing.

So, what’s the big lesson this week? You can have the world’s prettiest CV, but if nobody sees it (thanks, ATS), it’s your network that’s going to get you in the door. Have conversations. Reach out. Ask for help. And don’t be afraid to strip things back to basics - even if it means sacrificing a bit of creative flair for a shot at the interview.

Here’s to another week of juggling, networking, and helping brilliant people get where they deserve to go.

And if you are interested in the Sprint, for now, or September - go and have a gander here.